HTML5 Design Software from Adobe

Who would have thought that Adobe would be in the forefront of the HTML5 movement? Yet, here we are. Adobe on Monday released Edge.

Adobe Edge is a very nice piece of HTML5 design software. The current release is Edge Preview 1, which features animation and motion. The interface is clean and easy to use especially for an Adobe fan like myself. My previous experience designing Flash games and gif animations in Adobe Fireworks and Photoshop really came in handy. I was able to implement animation techniques I had learned to achieve some stellar results. I will be posting my masterpiece to the HTML5 blog shortly.

I was pleasantly surprised throughout my experience with the new design software. I played around with it for hours and it didn’t crash once. This is amazing considering it is only a preview version. Animating inside of Edge is a breeze. Sometimes I would get stuck but I was always able to create a workaround. An example would be when I wanted to reorganize my image layers. I couldn’t do it. I looked in the Adobe Edge forum but didn’t find an answer. The workaround I discovered was to delete the graphic and then import it again. Only this time I would click import after I selected the element that was on the layer right below where I wanted my new layer to go. If you love workarounds, this is the software for you! I will be detailing tips and many other workarounds in a future post.

The major drawback with Edge at the moment is its lack of features. It took me hours figuring out workarounds for what simple animation tools in Fireworks, Photoshop, and Flash can do. I kind of enjoy coming up with workarounds but I am sure most people do not. More tools will certainly be added in future releases so I would imagine this is only a temporary issue.

Overall, I give the new Adobe Edge HTML5 design software an A as in AMAZING! Many designers have been dying for a professional grade tool to create HTML5 animation. Others have tried but Adobe just stole the show. You can download the Edge Preview 1 for free on the Adobe Labs website.